John Bosco Day

     As part of my internship I brought a group of youth to a conference called John Bosco Day. As part of the day, we had adoration. And as part of adoration, a priest processed the Eucharist up and down the aisles of the congregation. I remember as I started checking how close I was to an aisle to see how close Jesus would be when the priest processed by. Unfortunately I was standing in the middle of my section: I couldn’t have chosen a seat farther from the aisles. But I also noticed that to my left there was wide open space, and I realized it would be very easy to move right up to the aisle, right up to where Jesus was going to pass by.

    But I’m bad at being spontaneous: What about the youth? Shouldn’t I stay with them? I felt conflicted, but ultimately I had to take advantage of the opportunity I saw. I looked around and saw the other chaperones were there; they’ll be fine, I want to be with Jesus.
    So I went to the aisle. I knelt down. The priest arrived. And I talked with Jesus. Afterwards, I got up and looked behind me. All the youth we had brought to John Bosco day had followed me to the aisle. For me, it was a lesson in humility and simplicity. I can focus so much on talks and building relationships in ministry and projects and work and all the rest, and those things all have their place, but ultimately the most important thing is to be close to Jesus and let him be in charge.

-Peter Schmidt